In celebration of the 80th anniversary of the birth of Elvis Aron Presley
(born: Tupelo, Mississippi,
8 January 1935) a new publication is available with information about the early music career of "Electric Elvis" and Cleveland disc jockey, Bill Randle.

Written by songwriter, Roger Lee Hall, who was an assistant of Bill Randle in the 1970s, this commemorative disc is available exclusively on CD-ROM, playable on computer, to help support the educational mission of this website. Included are rare and fascinating items, like interviews with Bill Randle and information about Elvis first visits to Cleveland in 1955 (his first venture outside of the South). Also included are several music albums. It is titled,

The Bill Randle Chronicles:
From Electric Elvis To The Shakers
(PineTree Press, 2015)

Documentary about early years of Elvis in Tupelo and Memphis and including interviews with authors Elaine Dundy and Alanna Nash, DJs George Klein and Wink Martindale, Historian Roy Turner, several Elvis friends from his youth. Also excerpts from early Elvis songs.

Songwriter Roger Lee Hall was a big fan of Elvis from the time when he first became a national sensation in 1956. Roger also was a fan of the early Elvis movies, especially KING CREOLE, and here he is holding the soundtrack LP album from that movie in this picture...

Roger has written about his admiration of the early Elvis songs and how it inspired his early songwriting career in his autobiography, "Free As The Breeze."

This book tells the story of a struggling songwriter and includes
over 100 pictures and rare audio files, including some of Roger's early songs.

One of his first songs, "Dream World" (1961), was written to pay homage to the Elvis multi-million-selling record, "It's Now Or Never."

Roger's frank and honest memories are told in his autobiography on this multimedia CD-ROM with music and image gallery and titled after one of Roger's songs...

In the August 1956 issue of COUNTRY SONG ROUNDUP, with Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley on the cover, there is a poll of favorite singers compiled from magazine readers and from the Jimmie Rodgers Day Committee in their poll of the Country music trade. The magazine wrote that:

"The achievements of Mr. Presley, of course, need no further explanation. All we can do is agree that he's one of the most dynamic performers to ever hit the music scene - and a wonderful boy besides."

In has been claimed that because Elvis would make changes to the songs he recorded for his film, that's why he was credited as co-writer. Many authors and websites still credit Elvis as co-writer of"Love Me Tender" because that's the way it was listed on the original RCA release.

But that is NOT correct!

The Truth

Read "The Truth Behind Love Me Tender" in this book on CD-ROM:

To receive your copy of this Special CD-ROM disc
with articles, picture galleries and music,
click on this link:

What was the best 45 RPM record made by Elvis during his entire career?

There are so many to choose from and the choices will be many, depending on who you ask.

Some fans might pick one of his uptempo hits like "Don't Be Cruel," "Hound Dog" or "Jailhouse Rock."

Others might prefer one of the slow ballads like "Love Me Tender," "Don't" or "Can't Stop Falling in Love With You."

All of these songs were mileposts along the Elvis music highway.

But for me, and for Elvis himself, his best record was not even a rock n'roll song.

It was instead based on an old Italian tune. His mother had a 78 RPM record of it sung by the famous opera singer, Enrico Caruso.

Okay, have you guessed the record title yet?

The multi-million-selling record (which sold for 98 cents back in 1960, about the same as a download today) was...

"It's Now Or Never"

Recorded April 3, 1960, RCA Studio B, Nashville

In his very thorough book, Elvis Presley: A Life in Music - The Complete Recording Sessions, Ernst Jorgensen describes this million-selling record perfectly when he writes:

This was pure pop music, delivered with both superb musical command and the highest level of professionalism.

This song, with English lyrics by Aaron Schroeder and Wally Gold, was based on the popular Italian song "O Sole Mio," which Elvis had heard Mario Lanza sing in Italian. Elvis had also heard an earlier record by Tony Martin titled, "There's No Tomorrow."

The Elvis record of "It's Now Or Never" stayed at the No. 1 spot in the USA for five weeks and eventually sold over 20 million copies worldwide, making it the largest selling single of his entire career. With just a few sudio takes, Elvis had made "It's Now Or Never" the most brilliant and accomplished record of his singing career. It was also reportedly the favorite recording of Elvis himself.

And now, on its 50th anniversary, isn't it time to pay tribute to "It's Now Or Never" again?

With that 1960 record, Elvis had reached beyond being just another popular rock n'roll singer.

He had become the greatest singer of the rock 'n' roll era and inspired many a singer and songwriter after that record came out.

I know because I was one of those songwriters.

My song, "Dream World", written the next year of 1961, pays homage to that great Elvis record.

So "It's Now or Never" to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the best of all the Elvis recordings.

It was in 1956 that Elvis made his first recording with The Jordanaires. Elvis had known about this quartet in Memphis and he asked them to join him. Their first recording as backup singers with Elvis was in the RCA Studios in New York on July 2, 1956.

Their first song with Elvis was "Any Way You Want Me" (words & music by Aaron Schroeder-Cliff Owens). This was the B side of the hit single, "Love Me Tender," from the first Elvis movie. The single was released on September 28, 1956 and by Christmas of that year it had already sold 2.5 million records. It also happens to be the first Elvis record I purchased as a teenager and I played it so much I wore it out.

The members of the Jordanaires between 1954 and 1956 were:

Hoyt Hawkins, Gordon Stoker, Neal Matthews and Hugh Jarrett.

Gordon Stoker (shown second from the left in the above photo with Elvis) is the only one from that time still a member of The Jordanaires. The other early member is Ray Walker who joined in 1958.

Elvis Presley On Television

Compiled by Roger Lee Hall

Elvis Debut On National Television

Cleveland disc jockey Bill Randle was the one who introduced Elvis Presley on national television on The Dorsey Brothers program, Stage Show.

Elvis made his first appearance on that TV show on Saturday night,
January 28, 1956.

Contrary to many accounts, Elvis did not sing "Heartbreak Hotel" (by Mae Boren Axton and Tommy Durden) for his national TV debut appearance, even though it had been recorded by RCA on January 10.

The "Heartbreak Hotel" single was the A side of the first official RCA record. It was released January 27. The B side contained the song, "I Was the One." This first RCA single became a million seller by April of 1956.

Bill Randle told me that Elvis wanted an upbeat number for his TV debut and RCA wanted to be sure their new singer had a chance to be seen on television so Elvis held off singing "Heartbreak Hotel" until his February 11appearance on Stage Show. He sang the song again on the March 17 and March 24 telecasts.

For his national television debut on January 28, Elvis sang two songs in a medley:"Shake, Rattle and Roll" (Charles Calhoun) and "Flip, Flop and Fly" (Charles Calhoun and Lou Willie Turner). Elvis also sang the Ray Charles song, "I Got a Woman," on that first TV appearance.

The TV footage showing Bill Randle introducing Elvis on that national debut in 1956 is featured in the two hour documentary film, This is Elvis (1981). This film combines both original films of Elvis and various Elvis impersonators who portray him during his life. Yet it is still remains one of the best film documentaries about Elvis.

All the songs sung by Elvis on the Dorsey Brothers "Stage Show", "The Milton Berle Show", "The Steve Allen Show", and "The Ed Sullivan Show" are found on this outstanding 4-CD Box Set: